A wide variety of dice constructions are known in the prior art. A search of the prior art located the following U.S. Pat. No. 3,608,905, issued Sep. 28, 1971, Des. 25,701, issued Jun. 30, 1896, U.S. Pat. No. 244,520, issued Jul. 19, 1881, U.S. Pat. No. 645,112, issued Mar. 13, 1900, U.S. Pat. No. 3,794,326, issued Feb. 26, 1974, U.S. Pat. No. 3,467,382, issued Sep. 16, 1969, U.S. Pat. No. 2,024,541, issued Dec. 17, 1935, U.S. Pat. No. 1,419,056, issued Jun. 6, 1922, U.S. Pat. No. 1,481,628, issued Jan. 22, 1924, and U.S. Pat. No. 1,563,680, issued Dec. 1, 1925.
A number of the dice disclosed in the afore-referenced patents depict playing cards on the sides or panels thereof. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 1,481,628 discloses a dice construction with six sides. U.S. Pat. No. 25,701 illustrates eight-sided dice, U.S. Pat. No. 3,608,905 and U.S. Pat. No. 645,112 dice with 12 sides, and U.S. Pat. No. 1,419,056 dice with 14 sides.
The more individual cards represented on a single die, the more a player is restricted from achieving the full range of poker hands. These restrictions are, in some cases, acknowledged in the prior art patents themselves.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,608,905 states that certain poker hands are not possible with the die construction covered thereby. The unavailable hands include flushes, some three of a kinds and two of a kinds, as well as full houses.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,481,628 also acknowledges that the exact rules of poker games cannot be followed when employing the dice disclosed in that patent since they have only three suits or colors.
A limitation of particular consequence which is inherent in all of the previous dice arrangements of which applicant is aware is the inability of the dice to provide flushes. Also, prior art dice arrangements often do not readily lend themselves for us in games other than poker.